1. Technical Field
This invention relates to containers, and in particular to a storage sleeve or cover for identifying, storing and displaying a videocassette. More particularly, the invention relates to such a sleeve or cover for storing and displaying a videocassette in which the videocassette can be quickly and easily slidably inserted into and removed from the sleeve or cover, the cover having printed indicia thereon identifying a prerecorded program on the videocassette and which cover may be displayed in several different embodiments.
2. Background Information
Rentals of videocassettes having prerecorded programs thereon such as popular movies, exercise routines, computer programs and instructions, and the like continue to increase as the number of homes and offices having videocassette recorders and/or players increases. As videocassette rentals and the number of program titles available on videocassette continue to increase very substantially, owners of stores which sell and rent the videocassettes continue to strive for more efficient ways of storing and displaying the videocassettes.
The current practice in most videocassette rental stores is to display chipboard covers or boxes having printed indicia thereon identifying the prerecorded programs on the cassettes, on shelves in areas of the store to which the public has access. Customers then are free to browse through the boxes to assist them in choosing which videocassettes they may wish to rent or purchase. After choosing a particular prerecorded program which a customer desires to view, after reviewing the identifying information, the customer either takes the empty chipboard box or cover for that videocassette from the shelf or some other means of identification, such as a code number or a tag corresponding to the videocassette, to a store employee stationed behind the counter. The employee then retrieves the desired videocassette from a storage area behind the counter or from a remote inventory room and completes the rental transaction. The customer usually takes the rented videocassette home in a usual videocassette storage container of a box-like type which is well known in the art and which has a lid for complete closure of the container.
Such a system requires owners of videocassette rental stores to not only provide enough floor space for public display of the information-bearing chipboard or cardboard boxes so that customers can freely choose the prerecorded programs which they wish to rent or purchase, but also to provide adequate behind-the-counter inventory areas for storing the actual videocassettes. In addition, the public is continually handling the chipboard boxes when browsing through the store to choose the videocassettes and eventually the boxes wear out. If the store has bought only a single copy of a particular videocassette program title and its box wears out, the only way to replace the box is to buy an additional copy of the videocassette which results in a needless increase in inventory costs, especially for infrequently rented videocassettes. Also, most retail store owners typically resell their videocassettes after approximately six months of customer use. To help enhance the resale value of the used cassettes, they are placed in the chipboard boxes in which they were originally shipped from the videocassette manufacturer to the rental store owner and shrink wrapped. However, excessively handled and worn boxes further reduces the attractiveness and value of the already used videocassettes as a resale item.
The subject invention enables the videocassette rental store owner to display the information-bearing chipboard boxes in several ways, either in a protective transparent sleeve with or without the actual videocassette stored therein, or in a transparent envelope attached to a cassette container with the identifying information exposed. Normally, when the store owner receives the newly purchased cassettes with their identifying cover, it is common practice for one or more side or end walls of the cover to be removed for retention and display of the cassettes in several different arrangements. The owner may elect to place the videocassette within a separate transparent sleeve together with its corresponding chipboard box and display the sleeve on a shelf to which the public has access. The customer then simply takes the sleeve and its videocassette from the shelf and delivers it to the employee at a counter for completing the rental transaction, or the cover can be disassembled or flattened and stored in a transparent envelope affixed to the rear of an open cassette box. The customer may then transport the videocassette home in the sleeve or the employee can remove the videocassette from the sleeve and place the videocassette in a usual completely enclosed videocassette storage chamber for transport to the customers home.
Further, the owner may choose merely to place the sleeve containing only the chipboard box on the public access shelves, the customer desiring to rent a particular videocassette would take the sleeve and chipboard box to an employee at the counter who would then complete the rental transaction either utilizing the sleeve for transport of the videocassette to the customers home or allowing the customer to take the videocassette home in a usual lid-type videocassette storage chamber. Thus, these alternate systems not only preserve the chipboard boxes, but the former system utilizing a transparent sleeve significantly reduces behind-the-counter storage space. Therefore, the need exists for a videocassette storage and display sleeve which retains the cover and identifies the videocassette to store and display the same, the corresponding chipboard cover having printed indicia thereon identifying a prerecorded program on the videocassette, the sleeve enabling the videocassette to be quickly and easily inserted into and removed therefrom while the chipboard cover remains in the sleeve. It is an important aspect of the present invention that the sleeve or cover be convertible into several different forms for the cover to be assembled with a separate sleeve or separate cassette box either of which may or may not retain the cassette therewith for easy identification and to facilitate rental and purchase transactions.